[Longshan Psychiatric Hospital]
“Son of a bitch… where the hell did I get dropped…” Su Jin muttered, staring blankly at the massive sign hanging over the psychiatric hospital.
A deafening bang suddenly shattered the air.
Startled, Su Jin whipped around just in time to see a blue-and-white trolleybus, its long poles reaching up to the overhead wires, rumbling down the asphalt.
A sparse smattering of older model cars trailed lazily in its wake.
Not far down the block sat a row of storefronts, their half-open wooden shutters painted in various colors. Through the windows, he could see old-school glass display counters, giving the shops an old-fashioned look.
Right on the street corner, an old man was bagging up fresh popcorn.
The bang had come from the old man’s popcorn machine.
The sun beat down, punishing and hot, baking the air with the mixed stench of sweet popcorn, cheap diesel, and melting asphalt.
Su Jin’s heart hammered against his ribs, his pupils dilating with residual adrenaline.
The scene playing out in front of him was an unholy mix of the bizarre and the deeply familiar.
The sun hung in the sky with a faint reddish tint, but the pedestrians still looked like average locals. Aside from their somewhat old-fashioned clothes, nothing seemed overtly alien.
Even the vehicles and the architecture just looked… plain and old-fashioned.
Meanwhile, he was standing in the blistering heat wearing a fashionable trench coat, sticking out like a sore thumb.
A few pedestrians were already throwing him sideways glances.
Catching the stares, Su Jin quickly shucked the heavy coat, draping it over his arm to casually conceal the briefcase.
He shot another look at the psychiatric hospital, his pulse thrumming in his ears.
He really had crossed into another world!
One second he was in his rented apartment, and the next, he was standing on a sun-drenched street in an entirely different reality.
At first glance it looked familiar, but the details told him this was not his world.
The shock of crossing worlds was almost impossible to describe.
That insane company. Everything on their recruitment portal had been true!
But a Dying World? An apocalypse? The street looked like a goddamn postcard of societal harmony. It didn’t look like a doomsday, and it certainly didn’t look like anyone was bracing for impact.
Su Jin shakily wiped the sweat from his face, dragging in two deep breaths to force his spiraling panic into standby mode.
Forget crossing dimensions; being whisked off to another country in a single second was enough to induce cardiac arrest.
But there was no turning back. He had to complete the mission or find some way to contact the company.
But first, he had to find the client.
The mask seemed to be guiding him: a red dot blinked in the hospital within his field of vision.
A security booth guarded the main entrance, and the guard inside was staring at him.
Su Jin frowned, briskly walking past the gate and toward a distant corner, ducking under the inconspicuous shade of an old tree.
Crouching down, he searched his coat pockets and briefcase.
Within seconds, he extracted a thick stack of banknotes and a plastic ID card from the coat’s inner lining.
The bills were stamped ‘Longshan Huitong Bank’. The ID card sported a bizarre, vertical layout, mimicking the format of an employee badge.
Su Jin pursed his lips, a fraction of his tension bleeding away.
The company notice had not lied; the company really had provided local currency and identification. The fact that he could read the street signs was likely thanks to the company’s translation service.
The Heavenly Dao Infinite Liability Company. He knew nothing about it and hoped the client could tell him more.
If this person was a client, they must have spoken to the company before.
But routing a client to a psych ward… Please, let them be a doctor or an on-staff nurse.
Su Jin tossed up a silent prayer to whatever management ran this universe, stashed the cash and the pistol into his spatial bag, and shrugged back into his coat.
Flanking him was the hospital wall, less than two meters high.
Su Jin grabbed the top of the wall, looked around to make sure no one was nearby, and vaulted cleanly over the barrier.
Boots hitting the courtyard grass, he broke into a low jog and slipped straight into the main building.
He glanced around nervously.
Nurses and patients moved through the building, and he could understand what they were saying.
The signage on the walls was perfectly legible too. Just ahead was… the men’s room!
Su Jin quickly slipped inside.
…..
Longshan Psychiatric Hospital, multi-purpose hall.
Fu Qingdai, dressed in a patient gown, sat slumped against the windowpanes.
The sunlight outside was golden, filtering beautifully through the canopy of green trees. It was a pleasant sight.
Between the creak of the ceiling fan, the patients around her—some vacant, others screaming—and her own worries, she could not enjoy the view.
Fu Qingdai’s eyes slowly rimmed with red. Her small hands white-knuckled the hem of her gown.
Time was running out. She had tried so hard, but no one had believed or helped her.
Was it truly inescapable?
No. There was still one chance.
The voice in her dream had told her that a man would come for her.
If she just held the line until he arrived, maybe there was still a chance to fix it all. If he did not come, that might be good news too: perhaps the dream was false and no apocalypse was coming.
If there was no apocalypse, she would even accept being mentally ill herself.
Clinging to that logic, Fu Qingdai scrubbed at her eyes, a fragile, hollow optimism settling over her.
Though her mood had swung back and forth like this for days…
Exhausting the scenery outside, Fu Qingdai finally got up to return to her room.
But the moment she turned her head toward the dim corridor, a dark silhouette stepped into view. A man in a trailing trench coat, gripping a leather briefcase!
Her mind flashed to the figure standing beneath a rotting sky, knee-deep in a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, a briefcase in his left hand and a pistol in his right. The figure from her dream and the man before her looked almost exactly alike.
The realization struck her like a physical blow.
Hot tears instantly spilled down Fu Qingdai’s cheeks.
Only one thought remained.
It was over. The apocalypse was real.
…
Su Jin came out of the restroom after washing his face. His panic had eased a little.
The toilet looked much like those back on Earth, with running water and squat stalls. Even the familiar smell of urine was oddly reassuring.
It smelled like home.
Hitting the midway point of the corridor, he spotted Fu Qingdai at once.
His heart sank. The client was a child in a patient gown, perhaps a high school student.
She was strikingly pretty, but looks were the last thing that mattered now.
Even if the client turned out to be a psychiatric patient, he had hoped for a strong, able-bodied man.
Instead, this was what he got.
Mentally ill! High school student! Pretty girl! Each one counted against his chances.
Entering the hall, Su Jin glanced around, pulled over a chair, and sat facing Fu Qingdai.
As soon as they faced each other, the red dot above her forehead vanished from his sight.
Neither spoke. Su Jin looked Fu Qingdai over. She was staring at her own lap, her fingers practically tying themselves into knots.
After a beat, Su Jin asked cautiously. “The company… gave you a heads up, right?”
Fu Qingdai gave a stiff nod, her heart practically detonating in her chest.
The man from her dream was sitting right in front of her. The apocalypse was coming.
“What’s your name?”
“Fu Qingdai.”
“Brother…” Fu Qingdai whispered, her chin tucked to her chest. “I still don’t know what to call you.”
What to call me?
Su Jin hesitated.
Thus far, she did not seem mentally ill. Giving her his real name shouldn’t breach protocol, but that damned company had forbidden him from revealing company information.
He was connected to the company himself. How was he supposed to know where the line was?
Logically, you shouldn’t need to guard against your own client, but the client might tell someone else. Better to make something up. It was a small matter.
What mattered was winning her trust and learning what she knew.
After a moment of heavy silence, Su Jin adjusted his posture, and sat up straight. “What we discuss next stays between us. Please do not tell anyone who I am. Do you understand?”
Fu Qingdai nodded solemnly, her eyes wide and deadly serious.
“I am the director of the company’s Special Operations Division and an elite operative. My name is Li Haocheng. You will refer to me as Director, or Brother Hao. From now on, in front of other people, we will say we are cousins. Do you understand?”
“Understood… Cousin.”